Komets beat Kalamazoo – but lose goalie

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Fort Wayne Komet won the game, but might have lost a major player Satuday afternoon. The Komets held on to beat Kalamazoo 6-5, but goaltender Marco Cousineau left the game with 6:50 remaining with a pulled groin injury.

"We'll just have to see,'' Komets coach Al Sims said. "It looks serious, and obviously he couldn't put any weight on it whatsoever and when he kicked his right pad out to make that save he tried to push himself up and there was nothing there. We're looking at… I don't want to say how long, but with pulled groins you just never know, as we found out last year with Dustin Molle. You just never know, especially with a goalie.''

Cousineau was unable to put any weight on his right leg after the game, and had to use crutches to get around the locker room. He finished with 31 saves on 35 shots before being injured and replaced by Charlie Effinger.

The Komets may see about the availability of getting Kenny Reiter back from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League, or they could call up former Komet Gerry Festa from Dayton of the Federal Hockey League. Festa was one of the Komets' final cuts out of training camp.

The Komets will need to make a move early in the week as they play at Toledo for a 10:30 a.m. game school appreciation game Wednesday.

Cousineau helped the Komets made a major move early in the ECHL's North Division race by winning two road games over the weekend. The Komets jump the Wings for second place, one point behind Cincinnati which hosts Wheeling tonight.

The Komets scored five unanswered goals to erase an early 1-0 deficit to help Fort Wayne improve to 3-0-1 on the road so far this season. The Komets play at Toledo at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday for a school appreciation day before hosting Evansville on Friday night and traveling back to Kalamazoo on Saturday night. The Komets are 5-2-1 overall and have won three games in a row.

Newly-acquired Thomas Beauregard continued his hot stick with a hat trick, giving him four goals in his first two games as a Komet. J.M. Rizk also scored his second goal in two games, and Josh Brittain continued his recent hot streak with a goal.

Cousineau kept the Komets in the game early as the Wings won the shots on goal in the first period 15-6. The Komets also killed off 2:00 two-man Kalamazoo power play during the second period.